Opioid Epidemic and Our Children

Opioid Epidemic and Our Children
Extensive studies have been performed on adult patients with a history
of drug use and misuse. These studies have led to the development of screening
tools and treatment guidelines for such patients to aid the healthcare
provider in avoiding negative outcomes. The issue is many drug abusing
adults first experimented and had signs of addiction between the ages
of 12-21 years old. In this article I will be addressing specifically
the legal opioids, which consist of the prescription pain relievers oxycodone,
hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and others. The general public
may know the other common names of these drugs as Vicodin, Percocet, Norco
etc. Abuse of prescription opioids has more than doubled and prescription
opioid abuse was second only to marijuana for 2.2 million adolescent first-time
users of an illicit drug in 2009 (Bass, 2016). It has been shown that
if drug use can be avoided in youth, the incidence of addiction can be
greatly reduced in the adult population.

Why the significant rise in adolescent drug use? To understand that it's
important for all of us to know that the adolescent brain is uniquely
sensitive to the effects of nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs. Research
has shown that 90% or more of addicted adults began drug use between the
ages of 12 and 21 years (Brennan, 2015). Contributing to the problem are
healthcare providers who may be dispensing more opioids than are needed
and contributing to the nonmedical use of opioids. This prescribing practice
may be for things such as sports injuries and at the parental request
to treat their child's pain with medications other than over the counter
options. A major concern with this practice is that compared with other
drugs of abuse among adolescents, the speed of initiation to addiction
among opioids is both common and accelerated. Several additional factors
that are likely to have contributed to the severity of the current prescription
drug abuse problem includes drastic increases in the number of prescriptions
written and dispensed, greater social acceptability for using medications
for different purposes, and aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies.
There is a major misconception by children as well as adults that because
the medication is "prescribed" it must be "safe".
Medication misuse is taking a medication in a way that is not intended,
such as: 1.)Taking someone else's prescription, even if it is for
a legitimate medical purpose like relieving pain. 2.) Taking an opioid
medication in a way other than prescribed-for instance, taking more than
your prescribed dose or taking it more often, or crushing pills into powder
to snort or inject the drug. 3.) Taking the opioid prescription to get
high. 4.) Mixing them with alcohol or certain other drugs.

A study performed in 2009 cited the following reasons a child may try
an opioid: to relax or relieve tension, to feel good or get high, to experiment,
to relieve physical pain and to have a good time with friends. Adolescents
are vulnerable to experimentation with opioids due to their sensation-seeking
nature and risk-taking behaviors. Opioids attach to receptors in the brain
reducing the perception of pain and can produce a sense of well-being
and/or extreme euphoria. However, opiates can also cause, sleepiness,
confusion, nausea (feeling sick to the stomach), constipation and slowed
or stopped breathing.

Due to the rising epidemic amongst adolescents, parents ask, "how
are they gaining access to these drugs?" The most common way children
get access to these medications is through their parents' prescription
pain medications, or they get some from friends at school who have access
to their parents' medication. Perhaps a friend or family member innocently
offered one of their own pills to alleviate that headache or stomachache.
Another example would be the teen who had wisdom teeth removed and didn't
take all of the prescription. The bottle was saved and later accessed
by the teen. If family members have taken any opioid medications in the
past, I highly recommend they make sure they have properly disposed of
any remaining pills so that children and teens cannot access them. If
they are currently taking these medications, they should keep them in
a locked cabinet.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 2014, there were
more than 460,000 adolescents who were current nonmedical users of pain
relievers, and 168,000 had an addiction to prescription pain relievers.
In 2015, 276,000 adolescents were current nonmedical users of pain relievers,
with 122,000 having an addiction to prescription pain relievers. Drug
overdose death rates have increased more than 250% since 2001, with much
of the increase attributed to opioids. Many of the pediatric overdose
related deaths from opioids were accidental. Again, the drugs can cause
slowing of breathing to the point the adolescent goes to sleep and does
not wake up.

So how do we as parents, guardians, teachers, healthcare providers recognize
and prevent such tragedy to our youth? Frighteningly for both parents
and the healthcare provider, opioid use disorder can present as a fatal
event in the absence of dependence, family knowledge of a problem, or
even with first use. Stress and exposure to drug use among family or friends
are thought to generally increase addiction risk. Many psychiatric disorders
including depression and anxiety can increase risk of addiction and drug
experimentation. Behavioral tendencies such as excitement seeking, extreme
extroversion, and impulsivity generally increase the risk for adolescents
to addiction. Signs that your youth may have addiction issues include
symptoms such as: slurred or slowed speech, dilated pupils, flushing of
the face or neck extreme drowsiness, drooping eyelids, school work has
declined and their grades are dropping, loss of interest in hobbies, loss
of interest in the way they look and their overall appearance, secretive
and guarded behavior and money/household items are missing.

I urge you to educate and arm yourselves against this growing epidemic
that is unnecessarily claiming the lives of our children. Don't think
that it couldn't happen to you. This problem transcends all socioeconomic
classes, ages, genders, religions and professions. If you suspect that
your child has an addiction with opiates, I urge you to contact your local
health provider, hospital, or addiction specialist for their recommendations.
Addiction is curable with appropriate treatment.

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